Range indicator



Jan. 25, 1944. N. T. ALM'QulsT 2,339,904

RANGE INDICATOR Filed Feb. 17); 1941 [V1135 TALMQUZST Patented Jan. 251944 s PATENT:

OFFICE men mnrca'ron Nil: '1. Almquist, New Britain, Conn., assignor to Landers, Fran & Clark, New Britain, Conn, a

corporation of Connecticut Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 319.192

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to indicators for electric ranges and more particularly to a novel visual indicator including a lamp, a retracting member or bull's-eye, and an adjustable screen for varying the intensity of light passing from the lamp through the bull's-eye. A visual indicator made in accordance with the presentinvention is adapted for use in combination with an electric switch having manually adjustable means for regulating the amount of current supplied to an electric heating element or other appliance in order to control the heat output therefrom. Accordingly it is an object of the, present invention to provide a novel indicator wherein the adjustable screen is operably connected to the manual switch adjustment means so that as the current supply rate is varied by manual adjustment of the switch the intensity of light passing through the bulls eye is likewise varied.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter. v

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a manually operable knob designed for use with an indicator made in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, there is illustrated a control panel iii of an electric range indicated generally by the letter R. R0- tatably mounted outwardly of the panel are a series of manually operable knobs I2, each of which controls the setting of an individual electric switch illustrated generally at It, one such switch being provided for each heating unit or element (not shown) of the range. In the present instance there are four such units as indicated by the four knobs on the panel Iii. However, since the operation of each indicator is the same, a description of one will be suflicient to explain the invention. In the present instance each switch It is adapted to regulate the current supplied to the controlled heating element and to determine the intensity of heat output over the entire heat range from the "oif to the full on position and to provide intermediate adjustments therebetween. The exact structure of the switch is not material to the invention and may be any .one of a number of standard switches designed to provide the typeof regulation indicated. The

knob l2 illustrated in Fig. 4 is marked to indicate the off," simmer," "very low, low, medium," and high" settings of the switch and is further graduated to indicate intermediate adjustments.

In order'to more clearly illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, one of the switches I 4 controlled by the knob I2 is shown operably mounted on the range R. More specifically, the range includes a panel Hi having an opening l8 over which is positioned a vertical mounting plate 20 parallel with and. forwardly disposed from the plane of the range panel l6 and having a peripheral lip 22 secured to the panel A in any suitable way. A vertical outer wall 28 overlies the mounting plate 20 and is provided with a peripheral lip 28 which engages the range panel It. The indicator panel I0 is located outwardly of the wall 26 and is held in position when the device is assembled by the switch knobs l2.

The switch I4 is mounted by means of a threaded collar 32 which extends through aligned openings in the mounting plate 20 and the outer wall 26 and secured thereto by means of the nut 34. Extending outwardly through the threaded collar is a rotatable switch shaft 36 which carries the switch adjustment knob I2 on'its outer end. Located in an opening 40 in the panel In and secured to the shaft adjacent the collar 32 is a sleeve 38 which carries a cam plate 42.

As is shown in Figure 1, the cam 42 is a spirally developed plate member havinga radius gradually diminishing from a maximum at point M to a minimum at point N.

In accordance withthe present invention the cam 42 is adapted to regulate the amount of light passing from a light bulb B disposed rearwardly thereof through. a bulls-eye 44 disposed forwardlythereof. The bulb B is mounted in a socket 46 which is secured as by a bolt and nut 48 to a shelf 50 extending from the casing of' the switch It and is electrically'connected so as -to supp thebulb with current when the knob I2 is moved from the off" position. In order to remove the bulb and to permit the passage of in the mounting plate 20. Forwardly thereof the outer wall 25 is provided with a smaller hole 54 so disposed as to be entirely covered by the cam when the periphery of maximum radius M is in line therewith and entirely uncovered when the periphery of minimum radius N is in alignment. Similarly,the intermediate portions of the cam will cover predetermined areas of the hole and will vary the amount or intensity of light passing outwardly through the hole 54 and the bullseye 44 from the bulb B. Forwardly of the cam and directly in front of the hole 54 is the bullseye which may be of any desirable shape; that shown being triangular. The bull's-eye comprises a piece of colored glass which for better refraction of light may be provided on its rear surface with a series of equally spaced horizontal serrationsor prismatic ribs 58. The variation in thickness of the bull's-eye resulting from the formation of the ribs 58 in the glass causes the bulls-eye to refract the light into parallel lines of brightness spaced by parallel lines of darkness. The number of lines thus produced by the light from the bulb will be dependent upon the position of the cam and the number of ribs 58 receiving rays of light directly from the uncovered portion of the hole 54. Thus, when the knob I2 is in the ofi" position and the periphery of the cam of maximum radius overlies the opening 54, no light will reach the bulls-eye. However, as the knob is rotated the cam rotates therewith, and, beginning at the top of the bulls-eye, one after another lines of, brightness appear until the knob reaches the full "on" or high position. In the latter position the en- 4 tire bulls-eye is illuminated with alternately spaced lines of brightness and darkness.

In order that the light from one bulb will not shine through the opening provided for the bullseye of an adjacent switch, the rear surfaces of the panels and walls are blackened to prevent the light straying by'reflection. It will likewise ent embodiments of this inventionscould be made be noted that the bull's-eye serves a second pur pose, inasmuch as it acts as a. reference poin for the markings on the dial surface.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely differwithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description or shown in the accompanying drawing shallbe interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claim is intended to cover all.of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

to any predesired selected position between mini mum and maximum, a knob securedto the forward end of said shaft adjacent said panel and having on its exposed'face indicia for indicating the setting of said shaft,'said panel having an opening disposedbeyond and adjacent to the periphery of said knob, a bull's-eye in said opening for retracting the light passing therethrough and directing it onto the adjacent portion of the exposed face of said'knob, a source of light behind said panel rea'rwardly'of said opening, and a spirally developed opaque cam plate secured to said shaft so as to. rotate therewith and located behind said panelbetween said source of light and said bulls-eye, said cam plate 'being so graduated that when said knob and shaft are in their minimum positions, said plate completely screens said bull's-eye from the source of light and, as the knob moves towards maximum position, said cam plate gradually exposes said bull's-eye to said source of light.

T. ALMQUIST. 

